Man, do I ever have more to say about last night…
This was the second long distance train we”ve taken in China (I”m not counting the train that brought us from UB to Beijing, by the way). The first train, Z1 (which runs Beijing to Shanghai), was exceedingly nice. Very comfortable, although the air conditioning kept cutting out, making the inside a bit sticky.
Right now, Amy and I are taking advantage of ludicrously cheap internet at a cafe on a very rainy day, listening to some strange Chinese pop music that borrows very heavily from “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”.
Weird…
Lest I neglect a wonderful place in Shanghai. One of our first stops was the Shanghai Museum. This is a fairly new place, having only opened in the last couple of years. And its exhibitions are among some of the best I’ve ever seen. The building itself is quite nice to look at (as are many of the buildings in Shanghai), but the collections are even better.
A few years back, someone got the idea that China really needed to showcase its technical know-how, and put forth the idea of building one of the most technically-complex things for commercial use: a MagLev train. Magnetic levitation, while not a new idea, is an expensive proposition. Few countries have even attempted it (the major attempts have been primarily Germany and Japan, with smaller ones in England, the United States, and France), and only China has created a commercial system. At a cost estimated at $1.2 billion (US, I presume). This is for a 30km link that runs from Pudong airport to Shanghai’s state-of-the-art subway line, but not even close to the downtown core.
So we found out today at lunch that our hotel is on what was farmland barely a decade ago. The Pudong area of Shanghai was nothing but agriculture until China opened up a scant time ago, and BOOM — a city appeared. Most of it here is new and fresh. It’s modern on a scale that’s hard to imagine.
I have to say, I was a little uncertain of what to expect in China. Mostly because we”d been told by several Brits and Aussies that we could expect a plethora of unsanitary toilets, pushy and obnoxious people, and horrible trains.
I really have to wonder what on Earth these people saw that was so bad?
So far, we”ve had excellent experiences, even walking into alleyways that are likely more local than tourist. The bathrooms have been clean (mostly, some do have a fairly powerful odour), the food has been mostly outstanding, the people very friendly (“art students” aside, we”ve had a number of people who do just want to talk, even if Amy doesn”t dig the whole “practise my English” thing), and the pushy lines are no worse than trying to get into Future Shop on Boxing Day.
Mind you, we”ve only just started China, but so far, I have little to complain about. Beijing is also a fairly modern city, which is a nice thing to see amidst all the old buildings, hutongs, and styles that make this metropolis up. I”ll be very interested to see how Shanghai is…
Chalk up another notch on the Dead Communist Leader Tour.
Today, Amy and I decided to keep things light, since our train leaves tonight for Shanghai. On the list of things to hit: Mao Ze Dong”s Mausoleum, and the Lama Temple. But first, the House of Mao…
Some companies, those that want to be “fun” companies, sometimes give their staff things like shirts, bags, water jugs, and various other bits of paraphernalia emblazoned with the company logo.
A couple of years ago, Critical Mass gave us sling bags, in either blue or yellow, with the Critical Mass logo on the back. Some people thought they were kinda dorky. Me? I”m loving this thing!
I don”t know who specifically chose this bag style, but I”ll assume it was someone like Cyndy. This bag has been lugged most of the way around the world now, acting as my day pack. It”s been on the Great Wall. It”s been through the Hermitage. It”s seen the deserts of Mongolia. And it”s been rained on a couple of times (including a nice, semi-tropical downpour) and kept my stuff dry!
So far, the only problem has been the stitching falling apart on the Velcro for the side flap. Nothing 30 minutes with a sewing kit can”t fix.
Did I mention that I love this bag?
About the only thing Amy and I had on tap today was the Summer Palace. For this, we took three subways and a (decent) taxi to the location. Total cost: about 30 yuan, and about 30 minutes. The palace entrance was crowed with about half the population of Beijing, it seemed. High for a weekday, but we soon realized why…
There’ve been storms here the last few days. Big ones. I haven’t heard a good thunderstorm in a long time. The rains, it seems, have washed away the all the haze and pollution that’s been hovering around the area for the last few days. (We should have gone to the Wall today, but c’est la vie.) This made The Summer Palace near perfect for visiting today. It wasn’t too hot, there was a great breeze (almost to the point of calling it “windy”) and the sky was actually blue (instead of the usual white with a blue tinge).
So Amy and I decided to take a taxi back from the Summer Palace to our hotel. Partly because the walk around the Palace grounds (which are huge) wore us out, and partly because we couldn”t figure out how to get back to the subway station we”d taken the taxi from in the first place.
A warning, which will likely be universally understood by many travellers, some taxi drivers in Beijing are con artists. Well, more like would-be con artists, as to be a proper artist, you have to be accepted for your ability. The a-hole who decided to dupe us really didn”t come off that way.